Meet our Team

Patricia Alvarado, LPCC/LMHC

Founder, Clinical Director & Licensed Psychotherapist

Vanessa Gutierrez,
LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Dominique Negrette,
LMFT

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Adriana Naranjo,
LMFT

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Yesenia Guerrero, MSW

Associate Clinical Social Worker

Angela Perez-Bell, MS

Associate Professional Clinical Counselor

Patricia Alvarado

Director & Licensed Psychotherapist

My experience comes from various schools of thoughts, through a multicultural lens that includes Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Solution Focused Treatment utilizing a strengths-based approach.

I am a licensed professional clinical counselor in the state of California and a licensed mental health counselor in the state of New York. I received my Master’s of Arts in Counseling from Loyola Marymount University in California and have extensive training in crisis intervention and trauma treatment working with Victims of Crime, within community mental health agencies, and private practice.

I explore situations in the here and now in order to provide a listening ear to understand your needs. I have experience working with women’s issues, relationships, crisis intervention, trauma focused treatment, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, substance abuse, and parenting. My areas of expertise include exploring trauma as well as parent/child relationships. Each can be unique on their own or intertwined together as trauma (generational, etc.) can have an affect in the way that we parent. My work aims to understand the underlying concerns that are causing stressful situations and mal-adaptive behaviors. Through active listening, approaching things with empathy, and from a non-judgmental standpoint, my hope is that we can work together to help create trust within the therapeutic relationship.


The experiences that I have gained volunteering on the Suicide Prevention Hotline, various shelters in Los Angeles including the Downtown Women’s Shelter, and my experience within community/mental health allow me to offer various perspectives and see things from a different lens. This creates an opportunity for creative interventions that allow us to truly experience change within the therapeutic relationship.

Qualifications

Trainings & Techniques

  • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Acute Traumatic Incident Processing (A-TIP)
  • Critical Incident Desensitization (CID)
  • Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Positive Parenting Strategies (Triple P)
  • Incredible Years for Children and Families
  • Seeking Safety
  • Brief Response to Crisis (BRC/CORS)/Crisis Oriented Recovery Services
  • MBSR-T/Stressed Teens Mindfulness Program
  • Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
  • Problem Solving Treatment (PST) for Depression
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Certified Grief Educator

Professional Practice

  • EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training (CIT)
  • Coach with EMDR Consulting
  • Clinical Supervisor with Beacon Health Options
  • Counselor with The College of Westchester
  • Clinical Therapist with Crespo Mental Health
  • Lead Clinical Therapist at USC’s Violence Intervention Program
  • Clinical Therapist with Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
  • Psychotherapist with California Victims of Crime Program
  • Counselor on the Suicide Prevention Hotline
  • Private Practice

Vanessa Gutierrez

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

As a social worker I value integrity. I am sensitive to cultural and social diversity and empower vulnerable populations through self-determination. I have a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Pupil Personnel Services Credential from California State University, Long Beach. 

I have been in the field of social work for the past 5 years and within the educational field cumulatively for 12 years working with vulnerable families struggling with psychosocial and social issues. My active listening skills can be shown through my ability to connect with others on a deeper level and help them through their process to manage stressful situations. My experience ranges from clients as young as 5years old to older adults suffering from severe mental illnesses.

 

I have provided individual and group therapy as well as coaching to at-risk clients struggling with academic, social, behavioral, and emotional problems. I use various tools to identify symptoms and implement evidence-based interventions that address clinical symptoms of trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, and other clinical issues. I have experience in crisis intervention and after care plans, partnering with both clients and parents alike. My knowledge within the mental health field also includes providing wraparound services, intensive case management, and assisting clients with various life transitions varying from navigating housing support to vocational and educational linkages. 

My goal is to help you understand the fundamental issues that are difficult for you to manage. Using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), along with a Cognitive Behavioral approach (CBT), my hope is to create a therapeutic relationship where you are provided with the ability to bounce back from challenges with a stronger sense of self, confidence, and coping capacity to get through adversity. With empathy and active listening, my hope is to build trust and create a unique approach together that works for you to improve your quality of life.

I believe in meaningful connections. I believe that establishing this connection and providing a safe environment for vulnerability is a vital gateway that will support overall growth. With compassion and from a non-judgmental approach, my goal is to support the healing process by understanding the underlying issues causing suffering.

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Psychotherapy, the Greek translation of this word being “soul healing,” is the work I believe I and our other clinicians engage in with our clients. Along with the research that Western psychologists have done over the last few centuries, I acknowledge the importance of tuning into our traditional Indigenous knowledge. Our ancestors held the power to live fulfilling lives that were integrative and holistic without the field of psychotherapy existing at a point in time. Colonization and systemic issues have affected our health, our families, and shifted our priorities in this modern day society we live in. Just like our ancestors, I am very confident that you hold the intrinsic ability to tap into your inner strength and resilience to create a life that feels meaningful.

I was born and raised in Hayward, California and received my Masters of Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Francisco in 2021.  I currently practice as an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area providing services in English and Spanish to individuals and their families.

I utilize a variety of therapeutic modalities such as client-centered, psychodynamic, attachment based, narrative, solution focused, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR). With the work I do with the BIPOC community, I hold a commitment to decolonize therapy and practice cultural humility with all people I work with. I hold experience working with adolescents and adults experiencing intrapersonal imbalances such as addiction issues, complex trauma, mood disorders, identity issues, interpersonal relationships, and more. 

I am Native American and Mexican, and I am very proud of my culture and dedicated to helping improve the holistic wellbeing of my community members through therapeutic relationships, education, and advocacy.

Your story deserves to be heard, and I hope that I can help you tap into the tools you already have within you to make a sustainable difference in your unique human experience.

Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

Within my experience, I have been dedicated to supporting clients who have been impacted by severe trauma such as intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and relational trauma, to name a few.  I have been able to witness clients overcome mental illness and heal from trauma by understanding them as an individual and their role within their own family dynamic, while simultaneously empathizing with their family difficulties. My primary area of expertise is working with teenagers and adults – both within an individual as well as a group therapy setting.   

I am the oldest of two siblings, a first-generation daughter to immigrant parents who migrated from the state of Michoacán, Mexico, and the granddaughter of grandparents who worked the agricultural fields of California as Braceros. I was born and raised in the southern tip of the Silicon Valley. I earned my Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Psychology and Social Behavior and Chicano/Latino Studies from the University of California, Irvine. Later on, I pursued my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from San Francisco State University where I began my professional experience as a Bilingual Trauma Therapist. 

I provide psychotherapy to adolescents and adults who struggle with depression, anxiety, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), and complex trauma. I am trained as an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapist and have the flexibility to adapt and integrate a variety of therapeutic modalities that are most suitable to the needs of every client I have the opportunity to work with. 

My current specialty is treating all age groups who are survivors of abuse and/or violence. I am devoted to working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and identities to improve their well-being. Passionate in supporting clients to make healing, sustainable, and lasting changes from a strengths-based approach utilizing trauma-informed and trauma-receptive modalities.

Yesenia Guerrero

Associate Clinical Social Worker

As a therapist, I believe in the importance of a strength-based approach to allow you to regain control of your value, power, and mental health. 

I received my Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Sociology and Global Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara where I developed a passion for understanding systems of oppression that affect individual and community mental health. I went on to receive my Master of Social Work degree with a Pupil Personnel Services Credential from California State University, Long Beach. I am currently registered with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences as an Associate Clinical Social Worker.

 

My experience includes trauma-informed individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy, and suicide and crisis intervention. I have provided services to children ages 5+ and adults. I specialize in mental health services for survivors of domestic violence, children and families, and parenting support with a focus on trauma-informed approaches that take into account your lived experiences and the existing systems that affect your day-to-day mental health. We can begin your mental health journey to address depression, anxiety, trauma, intergenerational healing, or anything else you are ready to process with the use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Managing and Adapting Practice (MAP), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Please know that you do not have to do this alone.

Angela Perez-Bell

Within my work, I utilize Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing-E.M.D.R Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) while pulling from a Psychodynamic modality with a Christian faith-based foundation to achieve your desired goals. I will come alongside you on your journey, assisting you in figuring out what’s been difficult while challenging you to dig deep and explore your past, present or future fears. Together we will identify negative beliefs, unpack the events around these beliefs and heal from them – all while assisting you in building a stronger, more resilient version of yourself.

I attended San Diego State University and received a Bachelors of Arts in Women’s Studies. For years I would help teens in unpacking their feelings and cultivate intentional conversations between them at human relationship camps within my community.  I spent almost 10 years in the educational system helping students, mostly teens, learn ways to navigate their feelings in a healthy way. Additionally, I volunteered with the local battered women’s shelter and gained a glimpse of the effects of domestic violence on women and children.  This allowed my interest in working with women and teens to flourish. I would later attend the University of LaVerne for my Masters of Science in Educational Counseling with a School and Family Based Counseling Concentration coupled with becoming an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor- A.P.C.C.

Through my work, I have developed a love for working with couples, helping them navigate negative family patterns that may be showing up in their current relationship. Guiding the couple either individually or together to support one another in their EMDR journey allows for vulnerability, repair and restoration of the relationship, and cultivates a beautiful new relationship built on raw emotions and deep unity from the EMDR experience.

I too went to an EMDR therapist for my own self work and retrained my brain to believe in my various positive beliefs. I came out of EMDR therapy with a transformational experience that inspired me to become an EMDR trained therapist, to help couples and individuals just like you get unstuck and evolve into the person you always wanted to be.  EMDR is an evidence based treatment for big “T” Traumas like life-threatening events or childhood traumas or little “t” traumas like a breakup, losing a job, or being rejected by a friend group. Our work together may differ session to session based on where you would like to go. You are in the driver’s seat of your path towards freedom from those thoughts that might be holding you captive. I am excited to meet and encourage you in your work. If you all are ready to let go of the past and progress forward, please reach out to me so that we can begin your beautiful journey of transformation.